Psychology of defense in chess

As I said earlier, defense is a very important chess skill. At least in about 50% of a chess game, we need to defend. Many players struggle to get out of hard positions, and crumble under pressure. If you study this course carefully, you will be able to defend correctly against all level of players.

Even someone like YOU, an RCA student, has admitted this truth in the comments section of our previous article:
Let me emphasize the statement with a practical example – the third game between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin in the recent World Chess Championship match.

Carlsen – Karjakin

Black to play

Carlsen is a pawn up, and he played 66.Ng4+, trying to win the Black’s e7-bishop. White has a clear advantage, but Black can generate counter-play with the h-pawn, and his King may run to the queenside. If Black King or Rook manages to capture the White’s b3-pawn, then the game will end in a draw.

Can you find a way for Black to save the game? Can you think like Karjakin – the ‘minister of defense’? 

The game continued as follows: 66…Kf7 67.Re6 Rxh3 68.Ne5+ Kg7 69.Rxe7+ Kf6 70.Nc6 Kxf5

White to play

Karjakin gave up his bishop and got an outside passed pawn for compensation. As said above, Black’s main goal is to capture the b3-pawn and draw the game with a great satisfaction. However, White still has chances to win the game. Yes, Carlsen missed a golden opportunity to win the game here. Can you find it? 

Yes, the World Champion missed the winning move 71.Re1! We can clearly understand that sometimes, the PERFECT DEFENSE is what all we need to stay alive in the game, escape with a draw from tough positions.

Note: you can see the complete analysis of Game-3 here.

Karjakin’s defense would have definitely impacted Carlsen’s psychology and winning confidence, as the latter failed to find the winning move. Thus, we can see that even though our defense does not directly save us from the game, the process is ‘indirect’ – breaking our opponent’s confidence to win. 

You can learn everything about the psychology of defense, active defense and counterattack, simplification in chess, how to consolidate and save lost position, and lots more from our course “Defending Champion”.

<<Get the course now>>

Don’t forget to use the coupon “defend35” and save about USD $42 (35% discount!)

P.S. If you’ve bought the course already and started studying it, please write your first impressions in the comments below. It will be very interesting for me, as well as for all the other students, to hear your feedback. Thanks in advance! 

4 typical chess mistakes in defense you should never make!

We are humans and we make mistakes, this is normal. There are some typical cases in which chess players make the same mistake(s) repeatedly. In this lesson about defense, you will recognize and understand those mistakes. It will help you avoid those mistakes in your future games and it will drive you in cloud nine! 

Mistake #1 – Underestimating opponents’ threats

White to play

When we are playing a game, our opponent sits opposite to us and he/she wants to win as much as we want to. Don’t forget that we are not the only one playing the game, and what is more important we are not the only ones who are playing to win. Thus, we should pay attention to our opponent’s threats and we should ask ourselves: what does she/he have in mind?

Topalov who plays with the White pieces in the game above, played Nd2. This was the decisive mistake because after 35…dxc3 White has huge problems. Two connected passed pawns are very strong and Black managed to win the game afterwards. The game continued: 36.Nc4 Re8 37.Rxb7+ Qxb7 38.Qxe8 Qb1+ [38…Qb1+ 39.Qe1 c2–+] 0–1

Mistake #2 – Blunders

Black to play

A blunder is like a slipping on a banana peel. Sometimes, even the TOP grandmasters can make such terrible mistakes. It is not something they intend to do; it is simply a mistake, an error. After the blunder, the position immediately collapses.

Adams who plays with the Black pieces is forced to move his King. The correct reply is Ka7 in order to protect the Knight on b6. Instead, he played Ka8 and lost a piece after the forcing variation: 34.Rxd8+ Rxd8 35.Qf6

Black to play

This is a double attack to both the unprotected d8-rook and b6-knight. White won the game afterwards. 35…Nc4 36.Qxd8+ Ka7 37.Qd3 Nxb2 38.Qf5 Qa1+ 39.Kd2 Nc4+ 40.Ke2 Qxc3 41.Qxc5+ 1–0

Suggestion: You may like to read about “Two chess opening mistakes you should never make”

Mistake #3 – Counting on your opponent to play not in the best way

Black to play

In the above game, Nakamura played the move 13.Ne2 very quickly. Perhaps he confuses his opening preparation or he just would like to confuse his opponent. Please let me remind you that he is one of the best blitz players in the world. Unfortunately, Blitz is very different from classical chess.

After the forcing variation: 13…Nxe4 14.Bxd8 Nxd2 15.Be7 Rf7 16.Bxc5 Nxf1 17.Rxf1 b6 18.Bb4 Ba6 we are getting to the following position:

White to play

White has strategically lost the position because the pawn on c4 is a very weak one and Black’s plan is very simple. Black will double his rooks on the c-file and they will capture the weak pawn. Black won the game easily.

Mistake #4 – Play without castling

Black to play

The most dangerous strategy is to leave your King in the center of the board, because the center usually can be opened easily. Thus, my advice is to castle as soon as possible and keep those pawns snug (f2,g2 and h2) right in front of your king.

Many chess players leave their King in the center for long time, and because of that they lose their games. I hope that you will not make this mistake and will secure your King. 

P.S. Did you like this article? Feel free to write your thoughts in the comments below. Also please do share it with your friends. 

Release of the “Defending Champion” chess course

The day has finally come – today we’ve released our new chess course “Defending Champion”! If you want to strengthen your defensive skills and stop losing games under pressure, then this course is for you.

As promised, we’re providing you with a massive 35% discount (save about USD $40) on this course. Simply use the coupon “defend35” when purchasing this course. If you don’t know how to use a discount code, please see here. This is a limited-period offer: it will be valid from today till Wednesday, 4 Jan. (inclusive).

<<Grab the course now>>

Why defense?

Defense is a very important chess skill. In at least 50% of chess games, we need to defend. In some games, we play with the Black pieces and White makes the first move; for that reason, White has the opportunity to start the attack/initiative. On some other occasions, one will make a mistake and be forced to defend. Thus, defense is as important as attack.

Many players struggle to get out of hard positions and they crumble under pressure. If you study the course carefully, then you will be able to defend correctly against all level of players.

Is this course right for you?

This course is suitable for beginners and intermediate-level players, but it will be helpful for advanced players, too. Even if your ELO is 1900+, this course will help you improve your defensive skills and you’ll learn some new things.

Key topics covered in the course

• How to defend in the opening?
• Stop losing material
• How to evaluate a position?
• Simplification in chess
• Economic defense
• How to consolidate and save a lost position?
• Active defense and counterattack
• A fortress
• Psychology of defense
• Dealing with gambits
• Three main methods
• Eliminating errors

The course also contains powerful practical tasks: it is necessary to put the received knowledge into practice. There are nine practical tasks (over 100 games) in this course, which will help you to understand and remember the ideas presented in the course better. The training program has a detailed explanation of WHAT and HOW exactly you should perform the practical tasks.

<<Grab the course now>>

P.S. We’re also celebrating this holiday season – if you would like to study other RCA courses, this is the perfect time: you can get a huge 30% discount on all our courses till 31st Dec. Simply use coupon “holidays30”. Find more details here.

GM Igor Smirnov’s Holiday spirits Part-2

Our new chess course “Defending Champion” has been released today. If you want to strengthen your defensive skills and stop losing games under pressure, then this course is for you. You can grab this course with a huge 35% discount (save about USD $40!). Simply use the coupon “defend35”. You can find more details here.
This is the second part of the ‘Christmas special article’, where I’ll share my Holiday spirits with you.  If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

Nowadays people still use large chess sets….
In Salzburg (Austria), you can play chess on the ground. Salzburg is famous as the home town of genius composer Mozart.

Mozart’s room became a museum

Sometimes Magnus Carlsen is called the ‘Mozart of chess’, highlighting the similarity between these two prodigies.

It was interesting to know that Mozart’s father was a music teacher and wrote a famous book about the art of violin-play. The ‘genius’ results of his son are not so mysterious… they were a combination of proper teaching and hard work.

Christmas is a time of wonders.
Who is this alien behind me? Did he land on Earth with this massive UFO?
Not quite.:) The architectural construction around me is the Olympic stadium in Munich (Germany). It’s very futuristic though.

Nevertheless, even a gigantic opponent can be defeated, as painted on the wall in Regensburg (Germany).
If you want to know how, study my new course “Defending Champion”.  On a serious note, this image showcases the Bible story about David and Goliath.

May this holiday season bring joy and happiness to you and yours! I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays once again, and a very Happy New Year in advance. 

P.S. Don’t forget to celebrate the holidays with us – grab our courses with a huge 30% discount. Use coupon “holidays30”. You can find more details here and shop now.

What can you learn from our chess course "Defending Champion"?

In my previous article, I wrote that we’ll be launching a new chess course called “Defending Champion” soon. The authors of this course are FM Marko Makaj (our guest coach) and myself (Igor Smirnov). Also, we gave a little preview (video lesson) for the course, if you missed it, you can find it here.

Today I’d like to share with you a few more details of the course and how it will help you master the art of defense!  First, you can find the cover image of the course below:

Who can study the course?

The course is suitable for beginners and intermediate level players, but it will be helpful for advanced level players, too. Even if your ELO is 1900+ (or even 2000+), this course will help you improve your defending skills and you’ll learn some new things. Therefore, anyone can study this course.

Why “defense” is important?

Defense is a very important chess skill. At least in about 50% of a chess game, we need to defend. In some games, we play with Black pieces and White makes the first move, and for that reason, White has the opportunity to start the attack/initiative.

In some other occasions, one will make a mistake and he or she is forced to defend. Thus, defense is as important as attack. After all, that’s how Sergey Karjakin manged to survive some of the early games of the recent World Championship against Magnus Carlsen. 

What can you learn from the course?

If you carefully study the course, then you will be able to defend correctly against all level of players. You will learn a lot of new ideas and at the end of the course, you’re provided with the right way of thinking. We’ll give you a complete system which you can apply, for sure, after the study of the course.

Course contents

• No. of video lessons – 15
• No. of practical parts – 9
• Course duration – 305 minutes
• There are almost 100 analyzed games in the practical part

P.S. Stay tuned, guys, for we’ll release the course soon! 

How to become a defending champion in chess?

Remote Chess Academy (RCA) is very happy to announce that its new course is almost ready – it’s called “Defending Champion”.

As you can learn from the title of the course, this course deals with one of the most important topics of the chess game – defense. The authors of this course are FM Marko Makaj (our guest coach) and myself (Igor Smirnov).

The course will be released soon, so please stay tuned!  Meanwhile, let’s talk more about this topic and have a little preview of the course.

Nowadays, many chess players face huge problems when it comes to defending the position when the opponent is attacking.
While contemplating about this topic, we’re faced with the following questions:

• How to create a solid repertoire against an attacking player?
• When to defend and when to ignore opponent’s attack/idea?
• Do you always have something ‘better’ not to resign?
• How to stop losing initiative/material?
• How to make counter-attack (instead of just defense)?
• and the list goes on..

But the main question is “How to make a perfect defense or fortress?” – like the one we’ve seen in the recent World Championship match where Karjakin showed off his extraordinary defensive skills. 

All your questions and doubts will be cleared in the upcoming course. Meanwhile, we’d like to offer you a small preview of the course to help you be prepared for the course.  You can watch the video below:

VIDEO LESSON ON YOUTUBE

RCA chess courses are effective: proven!

Today is the LAST chance for you to grab our special offer in honour of the World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin. Get our RCA comprehensive and middlegame courses with a huge 40% discount.

Use coupon “40off” when making your purchase. If you don’t know how to use a discount code, please see here. Save as much as a huge USD $464, which is the total discount on all the courses belonging to these two categories!

<<RCA Comprehensive courses>>         <<RCA Middlegame courses>>

These courses are of HIGH QUALITY – you can find numerous feedback comments from our students who have already studied them and made great progress in their chess career.

Today, I’d like to share some of these comments with you. 

Read detailed review by former world no. 5 player, GM Jaan Ehlvest!

Mujun Yu from China – about “GM’s Secrets”

Igor Teplyi – about “Calculate Till Mate”

Durgesh from India – about “GM’s Positional Understanding”

Read detailed feedback from Zoltan and his experiences here.

Sahapol, Secretary of the Thailand Chess Association, about “How to beat Titled Players”

Pawel Panas – about “Your Winning Plan”

Dr Randall K. Julian, Jr. (Randy)

“After working through my first RCA lesson (“Self-taught GM”), I have been interested in how GM Smirnov came to his viewpoint on how chess should be studied and played. He has an unusually direct and honest approach in his lessons, something that is rare in a world where everyone wants to sell you a silver bullet or magic pill”.

You can also read detailed feedback from Randy about my books Champion Psychology and A Promoted Pawn: My Chess Journey – see here.

P.S. Well, these are just some of the numerous testimonials from thousands of our students. It’s now time for you to act, grab the 40% discount, improve your games and create your own ‘success story’ – good luck!